Amad Diallo was named to the Manchester United team that beat West Ham in added extra time 1-0 tonight to advance to the FA Cup quarterfinals. He didn’t feature, but clearly it won’t be long until he does. The 18-year-old bagged a brace in his debut for the U23s, and he followed that with a goal and three assists in the next match, this past Thursday.
Signed in October from Atalanta in the summer transfer window, with the intent on arrival in the January window, Diallo is now ready to beef up the depth chart on the right side of the attack.
United narrowly won a game tonight at home that they utterly dominated. The hosts held an extremely lopsided advantage in possession, shots and shots on goal, but still left it very late, and needed Scott McTominay to rescue them.
Up next is a Sunday league clash against West Bromwich Albion.
As it is a match against a relegation fodder side, this is probably a good senior team debut day for Diallo. If not, a week from Thursday, when they take on Real Sociedad at Juventus’ Allianz Arena in the Europa League round of 32, would be perfect for the Ivorian to come on and get some major minutes.
Amad Diallo. Remember the name ? https://t.co/o5829LfW6n
— UnitedReds (@UnitedRedscom) February 5, 2021
Before coming over to United, Diallo only made five senior squad appearances for the Serie A side, and acquired just 24 minutes of playing time in the Italian top flight league.
If he’s for real, then his development would probably end the club’s interest and pursuit of Borussia Dortmund’s Jadon Sancho. The BVB winger and England international has struggled somewhat this year, or most certainly failed to take the next step that many thought he would.
Maybe Amad Diallo is the answer to the questions United have in that area of the pitch?
“As a club, we have followed Amad for a number of years and having watched him myself, I believe he is one of the most exciting young prospects in the game,” reads a club statement attributed to United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, on the day that he was officially unveiled at the club.
“Manchester United has such a proud history of developing young players and everything is in place to enable Amad Diallo to reach his potential here.”
It’s going to be really interesting to watch the youngster develop in the short and long term.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank, partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Tribune and SB Nation. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.